Reading is my oldest and favorite hobby.  I literally can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t love to curl up with a good book.  Here are my reads for June, 2016…

Every Man For Himself, by Beryl Bainbridge – Funny story on how I decided to read this one.  I am constantly drooling over browsing the selections on The Folio Society website, and they recently published a gooooooorgeous edition of Every Man For Himself, featuring incredible paintings by the author herself as the illustrations.  And I wanted it.  Oh, I wanted it.  But having never heard of the book before, I figured I’d better check it out from the library first and make sure I liked it.  Beryl Bainbridge’s story of a group of passengers on the Titanic – narrator Morgan (a young relative of that Morgan, you know, the superrich one) and his cohorts – is widely regarded as a modern classic.  I really did enjoy it, although it took a little while to get into it; once the disaster took place, the narrative picked up quite a lot and became absolutely riveting.  I’m holding off on buying the Folio edition, because there are other books that I want more.  But I sure did enjoy this.

Between the Acts, by Virginia Woolf – Sigh.  I keep trying and trying and trying to fall in love with Virginia Woolf’s writing, and so far, I’m failing at it.  Between the Acts, her final novel, seemed like a good bet – I liked the premise (all the action – such as it is – unfolds on a single day around the presentation of a village pageant) and had heard that it was slightly less experimental than some of her other fiction (To The Lighthouse, I’m looking at you).  It was… okay… but I wouldn’t say I loved it.  So far, my favorite Woolf book has been The Voyage Out, one of her earliest works and before she adopted her signature wackadoo writing style.  So maybe I’m just not cut out for Woolf?  I’ll probably keep trying until I’ve read them all.

A Tyranny of Petticoats: 15 Stories of Belles, Bank Robbers and Other Badass Girls, ed. Jessica Spotswood – Sooooooooo good, you guys!  So so so so so so good!  This was all the girl power-y fun I was hoping to get out of The Regional Office Is Under Attack! last month.  An anthology of original historical fiction stories, written by some of the top names in YA (including Elizabeth Wein and Marissa Meyer – yeah, that caliber) and compiled by the talented Jessica Spotswood, A Tyranny of Petticoats explores territory as vast and diverse as lady pirates, mediums, socialites, and African-American female stunt pilots.  My favorite story of the bunch was The Red Raven Ball, a spy story set in Civil War-era Washington, D.C.  But aside from that, I can’t even pick a favorite, because they were all so different and so fabulous.  I’m not always one for short fiction and I was really worried that A Tyranny of Petticoats would disappoint me, especially since I’d heard nothing but raves.  Happily, it was a joy from the first page to the last and I’m just so delighted to add my voice to those raves.

The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon In Two (Fairyland #3), by Catherynne M. Valente – September is back!  Diving out of Nebraska and into Fairyland, much to the chagrin of her unwilling Blue Wind escort, September is immediately branded a Professional Revolutionary and Criminal of the Realm, awarded custody of Aroostook the Model A, and pushed off on an adventure to the Moon, which is peopled with crustaceans and bedeviled by Ciderskin the giant Moon Yeti.  All September wants is to be reunited with her friends, Saturday the Marid and A-Through L the Wyverary, and to skip all the unpleasant adventuring stuff and just loll about Fairyland eating pie.  After her efforts in the first two books, it does seem she’s earned a vacation.  Sadly, this is not to be, as she is immediately dispatched to deal with the Yeti (who, like everything else in Fairyland, turns out to be a surprise – have I said too much?).  Anyway, I obviously loved The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland, because hello, Fairyland, but I must agree with the Goodreads reviewers who said that this wasn’t the strongest of the series.  There’s not nearly as much adventuring as one hopes for in Fairyland, as September spends most of the book standing around and listening while various characters deliver lectures in her general direction.  (Some of the lectures are more enjoyable to read than others – I did love Almanack, whose musings on providing for her inhabitants were so like motherhood.)  The ending was a jolt, and I can’t wait to return to Fairyland and see what other adventures September, Saturday and Ell get up to.  (And please, September, KISS SATURDAY ALREADY.)

Only four books this month – it’s been a busy one.  I got some big news at the beginning of the month – more on that coming soon, I hope – and have spent most of the month processing it and working on that big secret project I keep annoyingly mentioning.  (I do hope to tell you all about it very soon.)  But the books I read were good ones – how can you argue with a bunch of hardcore lady-types, a visit to Fairyland, and the Titanic?  Next month I’m going to plug away at that doorstopper Romanov bio until I finish it, and then work my way down to Inbox Zero at the library.  Watch me go!

What’s the best book you read in June?